The Only One
by Lady-Kit-sama
Summary: Everyone is worried about Fionna's strange attitude toward others as of late, and it seems that Marshall is the only one who understands what she's going through. Can he teach her that she's never really alone? One-Shot, FioLee


The beautiful, golden locked adventuress is usually excitable and happy, always helping somehow, whether it be a kidnapped prince or a clogged toilet. There's hardly ever a day when she wakes up on the wrong side of the bed. Fionna's smile lights up not just a room, but an entire kingdom.

Her anger is an omen of misery and terror.

Her sadness foretells of rain.

Her recent frustration, though, at everyone and everything, just causes confusion between her odd assortments of friends.

"Fionna hasn't been this way for years!" Cake huffs, crossing her arms. She came for PG's help after Fionna refused to talk to her. The gum prince seemed to have a little more insight into the female's mind than most of the other guy friends they knew. Unfortunately, another person was to be found with him.

The other in question, Marshall Lee, floats over Prince Gumball's head, the pink prince glaring at him. "Well, she just turned 17, kitty. It could be, uh, ya know… 'Aunt Flo?' 'Shark Week?' Her per-"

"I GET IT, PASTE FACE!" The calico hisses. "It's not that! I would know, sis doesn't know how to do laundry…"

Gumball sighs in response. "I haven't a clue. If only my cousin were here, she's great with science-y things."

A silence settles among them. Marshall frowns deeply, thinking.

'Fi's been real touch lately. She's all mad `n stuff all the globbin' time. Moody as feck, too.'

"Ya know," he wonders aloud, "maybe she just wants to talk about it."

"Oh, great idea, except maybe I ALREADY TRIED THAT?!"

"No, I mean, yeah, but what if what she has to say might hurt your feels? You are her sis, and she wouldn't wanna hurt you," the vampire king questions, effectively silencing Cake. After a moment, he snatches up his once red, now grey umbrella and float to the castle doors.

His candy-coated frienemy chases after him. "Where are you going?"

"Fi's."

"Um, why?!"

"To talk."

"But, Marshall – "

"Later, Gumwad!" With that, the aforementioned vampire turns invisible and flies away, leaving Cake to calm down Gumball.

"That insufferable leech!" He fumes, fully prepared to rush to his heroine's tree house on the Marrow. Cake rests a paw on his shoulder.

"Let it go," she sighs. "Who knows, maybe Paste Face is right?"

Fionna throws her bunny hat at her bedroom wall as hard as she can.

"Nothing!" She screams, turning back to a rather boring book. "No matter how hard I look," she slams the book closed, "I. Get. Nothing!" The History of The Mushroom War earns a place on the floor by her hat, pages fluttering open harshly. She sighs, her anger escaping with her breath.

"Maybe this one will have something…" the blonde mutters, scanning over a stack of books on the floor. The hope in her blue eyes falls as she realizes that every one of them has been read. Right as Fionna goes to throw each of them one by one, a tap rings through the room. A smile plays at her lips against her will. Only one person can tap on the bedroom window of the tree house. In spite of herself, she opens her window.

"What do you want, Marshall Lee?"

He smirks at her, his fangs glinting. "What, I can't visit my favorite adventurer?"

"Adventuress," she corrects, "but either way, it's lunchtime. Shouldn't you be asleep?"

"…"

"Exactly. What are you doing here?" She steps aside, letting her rock-loving friend in. He sets down his umbrella as she pulls the curtain closed.

"Eh," Marshall shrugs, "just wanted to talk."

Fionna plops down on her fur-covered bed. "`Bout?"

"You."

He hears her heart skip a beat and, knowing where the conversation is going, looks away from him.

"What about me?"

"What's been up with you lately?"

The only reply is a sigh. The vampiric king mimes the action before taking a place beside her. Gently, he takes her by the shoulders and makes her look him in the eyes.

"Fi, talk to me."

"I-I…" she swallows hard. A familiar, yet long forgotten sting hits her eyes.

'Oh, Glob no, I am NOT going to cry!'

Marshall moves his hands from Fionna's shoulder to her face, running his thumbs across her cheeks.

"Fi, you're crying.

"Lumping Globbit…" She wants to pull away, but she simply reaches to clench his wrists instead. Eventually, he lowers his hands from her now blotchy face.

"Marshall, do you ever feel…alone?"

He says nothing, but turns his head to the ide in confusion. 'What's she gettin' at?'

"Like, are there others like you? Vampires, I mean."

"Well, yeah, `course," he replies, running his fingers through the bottom of her hair. "They usually stay in the Night O' Sphere, though."

"I really am the only one of my kind left, aren't I?" She looks past his shoulder. Marshall turns, following her gaze to the book laying on the floor by her hat.

"The History of… Glob, Fionna…"

The girl in question smiles sheepishly as the boy rotates back her way. "Um, yeah. I've got a lot more, too." She motions to the stack of unthrown books. "I just… I wanted to know more about them, who I am, ya know?"

Then, Marshall begins chuckling. Fionna snaps her attention to him, fuming. 'He thinks this is funny?!'

Even more to her surprise, he wraps his grey arms around her and embraces her.

"M-Marshall! Dude, what the glob are you-?!"

"If you wanted to know more about humans," he laughs, "why didn't you ask me?"

The blonde pushes him away. "Cuz you're a globbing vampire, dude! What would you know about humans?"

The vampire floats up off the bed, looking her in the eye with his signature sideways smirk. "I was alive before the Mushroom War, when they were everywhere, Bunny! Almost every town, city, and village had at least a few of them!"

His friend stares at him blankly for a moment, then groans. "Seriously?! All this," she shudders, "reading for nothing?!"

"Yup, seems like it!" Marshall chirps, earning himself a glare. "Why would you want to know about them, anyway? It's not like what they did define who you are."

"Yeah, but…" Fiona blinks fast a couple of times. Even so, tears start to form in her eyes. Her voice cracks as she says, "I just don't want to be alone…"

The smile drops from Marshall's lips as he watches her cry again. His mind goes into panic, and, if he were alive, his heart would be freaking out right now. He doesn't know how to handle a crying girl very well. Or, really, Fionna in general, ever since he realized he had a crush on her.

He can't really explain how he fell for her; he just did. At first, it was just teasing her 13 year old self.

"You know you're in love with me~" he say.

Then it was a little further with the 14 year old.

He'd stroke her cheek and like you in those beautiful blue eyes of hers. "C'mon, just a kiss, bunny!"

Year 15 is when things really started changing for him. He assumes he starts feeling real love for her around this time. Instead of teasing her incessantly, he'd flatter her, compliment her, and, most surprisingly, give her gifts.

"You look nice/hot/pretty/supah fine today, Fi." Of course, since she wears the same outfit daily, she took it as teasing. Never once did it cross her mind that he thought she looked beautiful every day.

Age 16 rolled around, bringing a new, slight more vulgar tactic with it.

It always ended up with a scream (later on just her tensing up), a slap, a blush, and a 'Keep your hands OFF of me, Marshall Lee!'

Now, Fionna being 17 years of age and even more attractive than she was last year, he had been struggling for a new plan. And, as the human who hold his undead, unbeating heart weeps in front of him, he know what he wants to do for this year. This time, he's going to win her heart.

He floats back down to the bed and takes her in his arms again, rubbing her back as she begins to sob harder.

"I just – I feel like – I'm the only one! T-the only one of the humans, the only one, Marsh! I-I'm… I'm alone…" Sobs continue to rack her body, and she grips the back of Marshall's plaid shirt.

"They…" He starts quietly. "They were all different." Fionna's cries lower. "In their looks and personalities, all of them were different. Like snowflakes – even identical twins were kinda different. There were white, tan, and dark skinned, and when they were out in the sun too long, they turned red – sunburned – and sometimes when they were sick, they'd be red if they had a fever, or pale if they were weak, or green if they had a stomach ache."

The girl in his arms stops crying, tears no longer swelling in her eyes. She sniffs and hiccups, turning her ear against his chest, as if look for a heartbeat that wasn't there, and loosens her grip.

"There were the ones that were scared of anything that moved, the ones that were fearless and heroic," his arms tighten around her, "the ones that were spiteful, greedy, and mean – the evil ones. There were ones like you: brave, selfless, helpful. I'd say beautiful, but none of them were as pretty as you." She laughs a bit at this, relaxing into the hug completely. "It's true, though. Humans like that were rare. One of a kind. I've known very few humans like you. Two that I remember, but one went off the deep end and the other is, well, you, of course."

A sniff rises from the girl, and after a moment, she asks in a small voice, "Were you ever human, Marshall Lee?"

"I wasn't," he replies. "I was born half-vampire, half-demon. I stopped after Mom gave me a vial of Dad's venom."

"Oh."

They stayed like that a while, hugging each other close in the comfortable silence. Marshall was beaming inside – he was hugging Fionna! He felt accomplished, having stopped her tears and cheered her up. He was this much closer to the heroine's heart.

Fionna, unbeknownst to the Vampire King, was in the same boat. She'd gotten over her crush on Prince Gumball long ago after realizing just how much their interests clashed. Her passion is adventuring, being outside, facing danger, but PG is into baking, quiet, and safety. Marshall, however… The King of the Night O' Sphere is dangerous, and won't hesitate to jump into a messy battle alongside her. Sure, he's kind of annoying, with his constant flirting and this year's physical contact (she eventually caught onto his antics after a few years of acting completely different around her), but he has a special place in her heart, and with each day he visits, he makes himself more at home. Eventually she had to admit to herself after a couple bouts of denial that she was in love with the undead by. It had become her New Year's Resolution – she's going to win his heart, even if it means fighting tooth and nail against his deranged ex, Ashley, like she's on some kind of _Scott Pilgrim_ movie.

Until now, though, she's barely had any form of real loving interaction with Marshall. With that thought, she snuggles even closer into the embrace, cherishing it for all it's worth.

"Hey, Marshy?" She suddenly says.

"Hm?"

"What happened to all of the humans?"

He reluctantly pulls away to look at her face. "The Great Mushroom War. It, uh, kinda killed them off."

"But what really caused the war?" Fionna ponders curiously.

"Didn't you read the book?"

She scoffs in response. "Like I understood what all that junk said!"

Marshall chuckles, but quickly frowns. "I have a feeling you won't like the answer, but I'll tell you anyway: the humans got greedy. They weren't happy with what they had, they wanted more, and they started a war over it."

"Figures. It's their fault I'm all alone."

The words surprise them both. Marshall flinches and clenches his jaw tight, while the girl shrinks back a bit. She hadn't meant to sound ungrateful; she has Cake, PG, and Marshall, not to mention all the others. Being the only human, though, makes her feel somewhat isolated.

Marshall's thoughts aren't on her being ungrateful, though; he understands isolation. He lives forever, whereas everyone around him has a set lifespan. He knows the feeling of being alone. He won't have Fionna feeling that way.

"Fionna, look me in the eyes," he commands. Slowly, she lock with his crimson gaze. The fire in his eyes is doused by the blue in her stare. He finds himself plunged back into his thoughts, and just seconds after being submerged, he decides to just stop thinking and do something crazy.

He places a hand behind her neck, quickly pulling her into a kiss. Like a soft dance, they move in time with each other. Fionna has to pull away for breath, but she remains close to her vampire.

"Marsh?" she breathes lightly.

"Yeah?" is his muttered response.

"I don't feel so alone anymore."

He smiles, closing in for, what he thinks to be, the inevitable.

"Good."


End file.
